Hi all,
1. IAA Public Lecture, Wednesday February 5, 7.30 p.m., Bell Lecture Theatre, Physics Building, QUB, "Rare but important: Why the Universe is shaped by massive stars", by Dr Andreas Sander, Armagh Observatory & Planetarium.
SYNOPSIS Massive stars are quite different than our own Sun. They are rare in numbers, their life is short and their death can be quite dramatic. But these stars, which are more than ten times more massive than our Sun, are driving the evolution of our Universe. Their extreme conditions allow them to breed and distribute heavier elements. Only due to previous generations of massive stars, we now have the elements here on Earth that allow our very own existence. Massive stars also shape their environment, illuminating fascinating nebulae that can become birthplaces for the next generation of stars, and provide the radiation that makes the Universe transparent. Eventually, massive stars collapse into black holes, making them the progenitors of the Gravitational Wave events we are finally able to measure.
But how do we know about the properties and the impact of massive stars? To only way to study stars that are further away than our own Sun is to analyse their light. For massive stars, this is particularly challenging. Requiring detailed computer models, we are only at the beginning of a time, where we can put many puzzling pieces of information together in order to get a glimpse of the bigger picture. My talk will give an outline of the role and the impact of massive stars and the challenge to understand their properties and evolution. I will explain the basic concepts of massive star evolution and highlight the role of the enigmatic Wolf-Rayet stars, which mark a crucial stage on the road to massive black holes
Dr Sander has had an exceptional career already, with degrees from the U of Potsdam, and he has used the HST as PI (15 orbits); and also other top-flight telescopes and instruments such as CHANDRA, VLT, P200, KECK and JCMT.
ADMISSION FREE, including refreshments
NB: We'll be back in our usual venue of the Bell Lecture theatre, with light refreshments afterwards.
2. DIAS Public Lecture "The First Image of a Black Hole", by Professor Heino Falcke
February 10, – 7.00pm. Venue: George Moore Auditorium, UCD O'Brien Centre Science, UCD, Dublin 4
Booking is essential and tickets are available via eventbrite https://bit.ly/2t5rTPK
3. Mercury and Venus.
You can't miss brilliant Venus in the SW twilight these evenings, but now is also a good time to look for Mercury, which will lie between twenty and thirty degrees below and right of much brighter Venus.
As Mercury's apparent diameter is always very small, even with a big telescope all you will make out is the phase. Start looking about 45 minutes before local sunset.
Never look for Mercury with optical aid while the Sun is above the horizon, in case you accidentally get the Sun into the field of view, risking very serious eye damage.
| Date | Mag | Ph % | Elong | Diam |
| Feb 04 | -0.9 | 74.9 | 16.6º | 6.1" |
| Feb 07 | -0.8 | 64.1 | 17.8º | 6.5" |
| Feb 10 | -0.5 | 51.2 | 18.2º | 7.1" |
| Feb 13 | 0.0 | 37.0 | 17.5º | 7.8" |
| Feb 16 | 0.8 | 23.1 | 15.5º | 8.6" |
| Feb 19 | 1.9 | 11.6 | 12.1º | 9.4" |
4 CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT: from Fraser Lewis
I work for both the Faulkes Telescope (FT) Project based in South Wales and the National Schools' Observatory (NSO) based in Liverpool. Along with my boss there (Andy Newsam) we've just started a new project with the NSO. It's a 4 month pilot study funded by the UK research council to look at robotic telescopes and how they and their data can be used for citizen science; the likes of Zooniverse or Galaxy Zoo if you know them. Our take is "let's get our users doing some real science and get some understanding of the subject as well as the satisfaction of just helping science".
We're creating a web-based activity based around Type Ia supernovae as discovered by the Gaia satellite and imaged by our telescopes. We can use their peak brightness to populate the Hubble Diagram. We're hoping to use a web-based photometry tool called JS9 so that all the photometry can be done online and without any software downloads.
If anyone would like to have a go at it (and provide feedback !), please contact me directly, at fraser.lewis68@gmail.com, They would not necessarily need to be astronomy experts - in fact, in some way, that helps ! We're hoping to have something to distribute in late February and would only have a month or so to collect the data we need for the first stage.
5. Vesta occults naked eye star, 11 February. More details of this rare event, visible from the N of the island, are in the January edition of STARDUST, and will be in later bulletins.
6. Valentine's Stargazing Night at AOP, Friday 14 February
February StarTracker, 6.30pm: Doors Open; 7pm Talk: Delivered by one of AOP's Astronomers; 8.45pm Dome show: We are Stars; Stargazing (weather permitting) from 7-9pm
7. ISS The International Space Station continues its series of evening passes until Feb 8 Full details for your location, and lots of other astronomy information, on the excellent free site www.heavens-above.com
8. BETELGEUSE still faint.
There is considerable interest in the fact that Betelgeuse has faded since October by about 1 magnitude. Some conjecture that this is a prelude to a supernova explosion, but that is very unlikely. However, it's certainly worth watching. It's now about midway in brightness between Castor and Pollux.
My latest magnitude estimate, a few days ago, still put it between +1.4 and +1.5, almost 1 magnitude fainter than its average of +0.5. That's the faintest I've ever seen it – and that's from 1963!
You can compare it with Aldebaran (mag 0.87, but slightly variable itself), Pollux (mag 1.16), Castor (mag 1.58), Bellatrix (mag 1.64) or Al Nath / Beta Tau (mag 1.65). Only do it when Betelgeuse is at least 30 degrees above the horizon, and choose comparison stars at about the same altitude as it.
9. The NI Science Festival,10-23 February. The schools events run from 10 – 12 Feb, and the main, public, events from 13 – 23rd.
The IAA will be contributing several events, including an event at Marble Arch Caves VC in Fermanagh on Feb 14, and our public lecture on 19 February.
10. Dark Sky observing event, Cavan Burren Centre, 20 March. I've been asked to run another one of these events, in a very dark sky location, near Blacklion, just across the border from Belcoo. More details later.
11. International Astronomical Youth Camp in Spain, 12 July – 1 August
The International Astronomical Youth Camp (IAYC) is a three-week long summer camp aiming to promote knowledge of astronomy and related sciences in a unique international atmosphere. The IAYC is an experience unlike any other; a place for unforgettable memories and lifelong friendships. During the camp, 65 young and enthusiastic participants from all corners of the world gather in a remote location in Spain to observe and learn about some of the most spectacular skies on this Earth. Applications for the 2020 camp are being accepted until 5 April 2020.
International Astronomical Youth Camp, 12 July-1 August 2020; Baños de Montemayor, Spain
More information and application are here: www.iayc.org
12. National Astronomy Week, 14 – 22 November.
National Astronomy Week (NAW) will be held in the UK from Saturday 14 November to Sunday 22 November, to celebrate the close approach of Mars. Amateur and professional astronomers will be holding observing events during the week. Seen through a telescope magnifying about 100 times, Mars will appear as a pale orange disc, with its markings clearly visible, at a distance of 80 million km.
Although Mars is at its closest to Earth a month earlier, by November it is well up in the sky during the early evening, allowing younger schoolchildren an opportunity to get a good view of the planet. It will not be as close again until 2033.
As well as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon will be on show during National Astronomy Week. Details of observing events will be posted on the NAW website.
13. INTERESTING WEBLINKS (Disclaimer - Use of material herein from various sources does not imply approval or otherwise of the opinions, political or otherwise, of those sources). NB: If the title in the weblink does not indicate the subject matter, I give a brief simple intro before the link. I may also comment about the link afterwards.
ASTROPHYSICS
What TDEs tell us about SMBHs https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/black-holes-caught-act-swallowing-stars?utm_campaign=news_daily_2020-01-28&et_rid=415711678&et_cid=3183014
General Relativity passes yet another test: https://newatlas.com/space/stars-twisting-dragging-spacetime/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=57923d8a38-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_01_31_09_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-57923d8a38-92786061
COSMOLOGY:
How neutrinos may have made possible our existence https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200203114349.htm
Mysterious Antarctic neutrinos challenge the Standard Model https://www.livescience.com/antarctic-neutrino-mystery-deepens.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9160&utm_content=LVS_newsletter+&utm_term=3473357&m_i=KLvwoVnE_kF3vPpG%2BLyqTaEYSbw1nlEE3OdCZiDADmkLNzt2FV5GMV5_jcYCfS9ydWtJ01soBrprzhb%2BysEpIAAczGsDMIiIRxQ83mvKKd
EARTH & MOON
Space superstorms more frequent than we thought. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200129104745.htm
Meteorite contains evidence of very ancient pre-solar grains https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200129091422.htm
Micrometeorites tell a tale about Earth's early atmosphere https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200129174450.htm
IMAGES
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE
Voyager 2 experiences technical problems https://newatlas.com/space/nasa-voyager-2-technical-difficulties/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=df04174ac7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_01_31_09_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-df04174ac7-92786061
SUN:
DKIST, world's largest solar telescope, takes first image https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/world-s-largest-solar-telescope-takes-its-first-shot?utm_campaign=news_daily_2020-01-29&et_rid=415711678&et_cid=3184685 NB, There's considerable local input, with Andor developing the camera, and expert input from Prof Mihalis Mathioudakis of ARC, who gave us a lecture on this several years ago.
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS etc
DKIST produces first stunning images https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200129131449.htm
14. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link downloads a Word document to join the IAA. http://documents.irishastro.org.uk/iaamembership.doc
If you are a UK taxpayer, please tick the 'gift-aid' box, as that enables us to reclaim the standard rate of tax on your subscription, at no cost to you. You can also make a donation via Paypal if you wish: just click on the 'Donate' button. See also https://irishastro.org/
The Irish Astronomical Association is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 105858
DISCLAIMER: Any views expressed herein are mine, and do not necessarily represent those of the IAA.
Clear skies,
Terry Moseley
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